Jain Digest 1993 01 Vol 20 No 01

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 15

Jain Digest
body and attained salvation, or Moksha, at Pavapuri in the state of Bihar, India. This is celebrated as the Festival of Lights which is called Diwali.
Can a person be a Jain in the Western World? From Jai Jinendra, Jain Society of Houston, TX. Written by Ashok Shingavi
Youth Corner News
Youth camp, Debate on animal rights, Diwali
• The Jain Center of Southern California organized a Religious Winter Camp on Dec. 26 to Dec. 29, 1992 for the children of age 8 to 16 at a mountain resort in Lake Arrowhead, California. Forty five children attended the camp.
The subjects were Preksha Dhayan, Namokar Mantra, Mahavir Bhagwan, and Jain scripture. The Preksha Dhayan was practiced via video tape made by the Jain Center of Northern California during the visit of Samanji. The Namokar Mantra, Bhagwan Mahavir and Jain scripture were prepared by Niranjan Sheth from San Diego. Tests were given at the end of the session. The winners were: Jain Scriptures - Payal Sheth, Ankur Shah, Mona Vedecha; Bhagwan Mahavir - Mansi Shah, Shaival Shah, Natasha Gandhi, Julie Shah, Premal Doshi; Maha Mantra - Bansari Shah, Rahul Shah, Paras Shah.
Several people including Girish and Pravina Shah, Kishor Parekh, Kishor and Kavita Sanghavi, Kirit and Ragini Shah, and Dhiren Mehta contributed in various ways towards the camp's success.
It may be easy to be a Jain on Sunday morning or during Paryushan. The music, the lecture, the people, the food and the temple is nice. The problem is not with Sunday or Holy days but what happens on other days? Translating the Jain way of life in the Western World is difficult. It requires a person to be of great faith in the market place.
Unfortunately, Jains no longer look at our religion for its values. The new religion is Wall Street, Hollywood and Madison Avenue (advertising). The best intentions from Sunday resolutions are frequently overlooked by secular values and peer pressure.
There is a new religion emerging in the US and Western World. With the help of television, it is exported to the Third World. It is very powerful, capturing the attention of everyone. It is very commercial, bringing people of all faiths - even atheist-together in a common bond, worshiping the same ideals. It is difficult to find a person not impacted by this religion or whose life is not controlled by it. It possesses the greatest force in the history of the world.
The new religion is consumerism. A person is no longer seen as a great "Atma" but seen primarily as a consumer and heavy consumption is viewed as key to social well-being. Wealth become a function of sales, which are increased to an extent that people can be induced to buy new goods. To provide such inducement, business sponsors a gigantic advertising industry, which in turn dominates journalism and communica
tions. The desire for pleasure, comfort, humor and excitement is continually escalated...while the entertainment industries and business grow even more fiercely competitive, alcoholism, drug abuse and obsessive sex proliferate in large sectors of the Western society. The world as we know it
The buzz words of worldly success - have precious little to do with spiritual growth. In today's world, even Jains have made getting richer respectable - they think that getting richer is a result of their faith in Arihant - a blessing of Mahavir. Bigger houses, bigger cars, better neighborhoods, richer clothes are all signs of Demi God blessing those who believe, they say. Salvation through consumption
The advertising Gurus always preach us about what we need. Everything we read, hear, touch is a constant reminder that there is something missing in our lives. These great Gurus convince us that there is a defect in our life. Something went wrong with mankind and the human body. Simply buy it and it will be redeemed. They believe that the more they consume, the better they are. The human body is bad, but don't worry, the advertisers will correct it. Take for example hair. What am I going to do with my hair? And hair is always in the wrong places and we should remove it. There is a possibility that if we save all money spent on hair and use it on those in need, we could almost eliminate poverty. Dirty mouth
We are reminded that we have bad breath as we are getting up. But the advertising world would save us. But the problem is making the decision about which product to buy. All energies go into constant decisions made about what to buy. If that is not bad enough, we have to face "improved," new things. Imagine using second rated stuff for years. Style
There are more than hair and bad breath. The style! The mortal
Niralii Shah and Soha Shah of the Youth Club of the Jain Center of Cincinnati-Dayton, inform us that a debate on animal rights was held December 20, 1992.
The Youth Club is also planning to perform a game show at the JAINA Convention. Dayton is doing the questions for the Jeopardylike "Karma Game," and Cincinnati is doing the props.
•The youth leaders of the Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago conducted religious classes that involved discussions about Mahavir Nirvan and Diwali during December 1992. They learned the Mahavir Nirvan symbolizes the time when Mahavir Bhagwan left the mortal
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